[Editorial Tuesday] What Can VR Do to Help Reshape the Video Game Industry?

Gamers everywhere are becoming increasingly bored of the current gameplay scene which is a scary thing. Though, this doesn’t mean gamers hate video games by any means, it does infer that they want something new besides FPS titles and RPGs. Thankfully though, there does lie a small beacon of hope in this current gaming age and that is virtual reality or better known by its prefix as VR. Though haven’t you ever wondered what can VR really do to change the gaming landscape? We here at Honey’s Anime have thought about it and thus decided to talk about it in our Editorial Tuesday article titled What Can VR Do to Help Reshape The Video Game Industry.

Now let us first make something very clear to all of you beautiful readers out there. Here at Honey’s Anime we don’t create or make video games we just talk about them. Thus, our opinions below reflect our hive’s idea of what VR could do and not what it might be able to do as of yet. VR is a relatively new creation—even if you count things like the Nintendo Virtual Boy—and thus has a lot of room to grow as technology and game developers advance in the future. That’s why we just want all of you to be aware that the ideas below are simply our thoughts on how VR can change the gaming industry and not a declaration of things to come in the future or what can be done now. Alright, with that out of the way let us dive into our article and see if VR really can do something or is just a lot of hot air at the moment.

True Immersion

One thing gamers—including us here at Honey’s Anime—always yearn for in a good video game is a higher level of immersion. Immersion simply means for a game to whisk the player away into its virtual space and make players forget they are playing a game at all. If we’re being honest, very few games can honestly do this and while many have tried—examples could be seen in games like Heavy Rain, the Uncharted series and Skyrim—most just come up a bit short for that true immersion needed to make a game so much better. However, with VR technology, the gaming world could see a change in the gaming landscape by actually making players feel engaged in the game beyond just holding a controller and staring at a screen for hours on end.

Currently there are dozens of VR games out there that do exist and already are showing an extreme level of realism. Some of these games are horror games like Resident Evil 7 which can be played with VR or Star Trek: Bride Crew which allows players to become a pilot on the Federations team. These VR titles put players behind the wheel and while they may still be holding a controller in some shape or form, the tense action and horror filled moments are not just on a screen but in your face thanks to the VR headsets. Resident Evil 7 especially makes us here at Honey’s Anime sweat and feel tense as we see an enemy breaking through a wall or running at us as if that is happening in the real world. Even simpler games like Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes can create a true level of immersion thanks to the tense feeling of being in a room holding a possible exploding bomb. VR has the best shot for true level immersions which in turn will keep not only players happy with their constant shouts for it but also help the gaming industry provide better experiences for gamers worldwide.

As great as VR is right now, it’s still what many would consider in its infancy stage. Unfortunately, VR might be a very cool thing, but it hasn’t quite reached the levels like we see in anime such as Sword Art Online or .Hack//Sign. As of writing this article VR still has players utilize heavy helmets that are attached to numerous wires. Even the cell phone based VR headsets such as the Oculus Rift still can be cumbersome for some gamers thanks to various issues of a screen being easy to fog up and or just being too tight for some gamer’s heads. However, if we can fix these issues with VR technology then the gaming industry in turn will have an easier time selling VR games and units.

Now, does this mean VR headsets are all garbag? The short answer is heck no, VR headsets like the Oculus Rift we mentioned earlier is still an amazing piece of technology. The main issue is that it’s still not full immersion—which we talked about before—and that breaks the limits of how much a player can enjoy a game. If one day, VR can enter the realm of giving players full range movement via their bodies then VR will become a must have in every household from America to Japan. So, here’s hoping we eventually reach the level of Nerve Gears but minus the whole becoming trapped in a game thing. We want immersion yes but we also like to not die if we die in a game or get trapped in one.

More excitement and more fun equals change

Immersion and better technology offer one other concept of gaming that is very important, enjoyment. Once the VR world of gaming can become ten times better than it is currently, gamers out there will begin to jump for joy as the gaming landscape becomes even more fun than it already is presently. Gamers will become more robust in every sense of the word. Imagine an adventure feeling like you’re literally walking outside and seeing beautiful sites or a horror game that literally has you running away from nightmarish creatures. The amount of things VR can accomplish is mystifying and can give gamers a whole new way of playing video games. However, there is also one more element of VR that will help the gaming industry and that is change.

We here at Honey’s Anime have played video games since the conception of Arcades, but that doesn’t mean we’re old by the way. Nevertheless, video games are as cool as they have become in recent years with large fantasy worlds to explore and or tons of enemies to shoot in horror filled scenarios. Yet, games have begun to plateau. The gaming world needs change and it needs it faster than ever before folks. VR has the means of doing this by giving players new genres that while still adhere to the past themes, maybe add new hybrid themes. Instead of a game just being a roleplaying game, it could be a first person roleplaying game. Once VR expands and the technology for it changes, games could become something never before seen in this gaming world and that will create a much-needed change for the gaming scene which will result in more gamers and more revenue for companies that may be losing money as of recent. Seriously, just imagine Final Fantasy XV being in first person with you holding the sword and using magic, that would be amazing without a doubt.

Final Thoughts

VR still has a long way to go in the world of video games, that much is 100% true. At the moment, VR suffers from a slew of issues. These issues range from motion sickness for most gamers who use them to overly simple game design that doesn’t allow a lot of fun to be had. As we mentioned above, VR does have some amazing gaming titles and those are just a few of them. Folks, we are quite aware that VR greatness and perfection is very far in the future but once VR gets to that level or even comes close to it, the world of video games will change in ways we probably can’t even imagine and that sounds amazing to us here at Honey’s Anime.

Now folks, we have discussed what we think VR could do for the gaming industry. However, we know our thoughts are just a small portion of the possibilities out there from other gamers. Why not comment down below and let us know what you think VR could do for the gaming world and industry. Don’t feel afraid to say whatever you think but just be respectful and mindful of not only gaming developers who are using a rather new piece of technology and those whose opinions might go against your own. If you loved this article as much as we enjoyed writing it for you all, why not scour our great website for even more articles and editorials to read. With that folks we here at Honey’s Anime bow out until our next article where we hope to see you all again.

Writer

Author: Aaron

Hey everyone I’m Aaron Curbelo or Blade as I’m called by my YouTube Subscribers. I’ve been an anime/manga fan since I was a young kid. In terms of anime I have watched nearly a thousand shows and have read hundreds of manga series. I love writing and honestly was so happy to join Honey’s Anime to get a shot to write articles for such a wonderful site. I’m a firm believer in respect in the anime community being the most important embodiment we should all have. We all love anime and we have varying opinions of series but we should respect one another for those differences! Life is too precious to spend it making needless arguments in a community that should be the shining example of loving an amazing medium. I hope as a writer for Honey’s Anime I can bring you folks some amazing articles to read and enjoy!